Self Massage, "The Stick"

asbury_park · June 10, 2005, 9:29am

Good points. Agree completely with the long warm up. But, do you really think that an advanced athlete, with good mobility, will suffer microtears from performing bodyweight lunges?
I think organized warm-ups is one of the most important concepts forgotten by coaches. Most just have their athletes move around a lot and perform some drills they saw on a video or some other coach doing. A proper warm-up progresion is vital.

system · June 10, 2005, 9:33am

no matter how elite, motion cold is likely to result in problems…it’s not so much the stress level but the tissue preparation.

JohnG109 · June 12, 2005, 2:13am

Clemson:

Therapy and stretching is allways before or after training. For example post workout threapy is preworkout preparation for the next speed session.

My therapist uses two dozen massage techniques and countless forms of stretching to improve the function of the the athlete. I find that using Microstretching 60-90 minutes after training has helped a lot, while some athletes may need therapy in order to find improvements if they have cross-linkage issues such as flash. The older the athlete the more likely to have deep issues.

Preworkout stretching is best done by using a long warm-up. Many are starting off with dynamic flexibility and are getting microtears like crazy. Just because you are moving doesn’t mean you are warm. Doing lunges “far and away” will harm an athlete due to the tissues being cold. I prefer some light traditional means followed by some core and then dynamic work.

I agree, from my own experience I prefer to jog 3-4 laps of the track before performing any type of stretching. If I just do dynamic stretching my muscles feel hard and inflexible and stretching is painful, rather than the usual stretching sensation.